Systems and methods herein generally relate to inkjet printers and more particularly to inkjet printhead caps having latching systems.
Inkjet printers eject drops of liquid marking material (e.g., ink) from nozzles or “jets” of printheads in patterns to perform printing. These nozzles of the inkjet printheads routinely clog when such are unused for extended periods, for example when an inkjet printer does not print for an extended period, or when certain colors or nozzles go unused for an extended period.
This can result in nozzles that do not eject any ink, or that only eject a significantly reduced drop mass, which causes less than optimal pixel placement (“streaky” solid-fill images) and lower than target drop mass (lighter than target solid-densities). If the condition goes uncorrected, it can lead to intermittent firing and the jet can eventually cease firing, and such a situation can be unrecoverable resulting in irreversible printhead damage. Depending on the pre-condition of the head, the time scale for onset of such unrecoverable failure could range from a few hours to an overnight/weekend idle time.
Additionally, certain colors (e.g., magenta, etc.) are more susceptible to clogging relative to other colors, because certain color inks dry faster than other color inks, which causes the ink to dry in the nozzles of the printhead during extended inactivity. Such nozzle clogging issues can be mitigated, but not avoided, by purge and cleaning cycles.